Which ads did Canadians watch most in 2016?

YouTube‘s annual top video lists have become a December tradition for those who follow the viral nature of modern pop culture. On Thursday it released its 2016 Ad Leaderboard for Canada, showing the most popular ads from the past 12 months.

Three Canadian brands found themselves in the top 10, though they fall at the bottom of the ranking behind U.S. efforts for mobile games, global brands and a touching video about breaking down borders.

Another video – “SickKids Vs: Undeniable” from Cossette – was given an hourable mention.

“While it didn’t make the year-end list because it was released recently, ‘SickKids VS: Undeniable’ is trending strongly after only four weeks in market,” the company said in a statement. “We expect this powerful ad to continue to have an impact as we wrap up 2016.”

The Ads Leaderboards have always been a bit mysterious to agency creatives. While the rankings clearly include some of the most popular videos (judging from their view counts), YouTube does not release Canada-specific viewer numbers. It also only includes videos registered as ads with Google’s online video service. This can exclude some branded content, or indeed any brand video that doesn’t include a media buy.

YouTube’s lists of the top 10 trending videos, music videos and movie trailers in Canada are available on Google Canada’s blog.